EA signs five-year Facebook Credits deal
Currency becomes exclusive payment method for publisher's games on social network
Electronic Arts has inked a five-year Facebook Credits deal that will see the currency used as the exclusive payment method for all EA games on the social network.
The publisher already has EA Sports FIFA Superstars running on Facebook - the first title to come out of the $300 million acquisition of PlayFish - alongside Pet Society and Restaurant City, and a number of Pogo-branded games currently in beta.
"Since gaming has emerged as the most popular category of applications on Facebook, the natural next step is for EA to broaden its relationship with Facebook and its 500 million users," offered Barry Cottle, senior vice president and general manager for EA Interactive.
"Our goal is to make the best games tailored specifically to the platforms on which people want to play."
The deal is similar to the one Facebook struck with Zynga in May, and comes two months after CFO Eric Brown revealed the publisher was in discussions with Facebook about such a move.
"We are pleased to enter into this long-term partnership with EA to make it easier for people to purchase virtual goods across some of the most popular games on Facebook," added Dan Rose, vice president of partnerships and platform marketing at Facebook.
"Playfish has a great reputation for building high-quality games on Facebook, and we look forward to working even more closely with them and the larger team at EA."